Banks get creative with new fees

Although banks have backed away from their plan to start charging customers a monthly debit card fee, many are quietly raising existing fees and adding new ones in other areas.

U.S. Bancorp is now charging customers 50 cents to deposit a check with a mobile phone, NYTimes.com reports.

Bank of America, which infamously proposed a $5 monthly debit card fee before recanting in the face of public pressure, is now charging $5 to replace a lost or stolen debit card. Customers who need the replacement on a rush delivery will now have to pay $20.

Banks are under enormous pressure to make up approximately $12 billion in annual income that they lost due to new federal regulations such as the Durbin Amendment and rules that curbed overdraft charges.

In order to earn what they have in the past, banks must charge between $15 and $20 per month from each customer, according to NYTimes.com.

Banks spend between $200 and $300 each year on maintaining a single retail checking account. This amount covers federal deposit insurance premiums to staffing branches. In the past, banks have used money from overdraft charges and interchange fees to cover the expense.

“They have got to make up the income some place,” Vernon Hill II, the founder of Commerce Bank, said, NYTimes.com reports. “I think we will see a lot more fees.”